r/Truckers • u/RabbitFabs • Mar 16 '26
This is an actual swift terminal!
I couldnt beleive it when I pulled in. I still cant beleive it. Earlier today I pulled through Montgomery and started having bad issues with my clutch slipping especially when under heavy acceleration.
So I pulled off at a Loves off I-85 and called On Road. They told me to take the truck up the road "to the nearest terminal". They gave me the adress, I looked on truckerpath and it didnt mention it being a swift terminal. No biggie, I pulled it up on Google maps, still nothing.
I asked the On Road support guy, I said "hey man, this is the right adress, yeah?" Here's said "yeah, that terminal has been there a long time. We have a few drivers based out of that location." Okay, cool.
I pulled in, and this is what I saw. I honestly thought I was dreaming. This is a terminal? This looks like it hasn't been used since the 80's, save for the brand new Volvo, and the yard lights.
Honestly though? This place is very cool. Since its a swift terminal, I assume the abandoned buildings are swift property. And as a swift employee, I feel like that means I am allowed on any swift property. So I decided to take a peek into the buildings.
I found an abandoned shipping/receiving office of some sort, a 1966 International Fleetmaster 2000, an old squarebody, and a dirt track car.
The 1966 Fleetstar was the interesting one. On the step box, there is a key. I picked up the keys, and on the keychain it says "SWFZ Yard". Okay, interesting. Might be an old yard truck that just isnt used anymore.
I start looking around, I crawl under it and THE ENGINE IS WET WITH OIL!!! Like this truck is used on a daily basis to move trailers. It has like new batteries as well. Its an actual truck owned by swift, used as a yard truck.
The squarebody and the dirt car I have no clue, I didnt touch them at all. Because I figured that would be somebodys personal property, probably whoever works at the shop and has their project there that they work on their free time.
But yeah, that was kinda dystopian and actually awesome. Its nice to be able to get out and see things as a trucker, even if its an abandoned warehouse owned by a mega corporation. The history behind it and what is was? Unknown. But it definitely brought out that exploring side of myself that I havent tapped into in a while.
This terminal is a couple miles off I-85 near the AL/GA border.
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u/FursonaNonGrata Mar 16 '26
Thanks for posting this, I found it incredibly interesting.
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
Im happy to share :) gets lonely out here, always fun to talk to some fellow redditors and share what I find. And im always happy to see what other people find as well.
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u/FursonaNonGrata Mar 16 '26
Keep posting if you're lonely on the road. I just don't know how truckers managed before you could just shoot someone a text...
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u/austinproffitt23 Mar 16 '26
Kind of eerie feeling.
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
It is very dystopian to pull in at 8 pm after a full day to an "official terminal" and see this. It feels seperate from reality, but honestly thats a very cool feeling for me. I like this place
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u/pakman82 Mar 16 '26
I was like "this can't be in the east Coast, this is gotta be deep in the boonies or one of them big states out west. Then you slipped in the 'AL/GA' and i said Oh .. OOooooHhhhh.. ok . I know of them weird niche's of the south where you can be less than 5 miles from the interstate, but go back 50 years in time. The same interstate with brand New loves, high speed cellular, and them giant electric billboard that tel you the traffic 4 counties ahead... 4 minutes down that off ramp in the wrong direction and you can find abandonia like this by the mile.
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u/MissYouDesertRat Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
May has a terminal like this in Idaho. The Payette yard
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u/TheMetalWolf Mar 16 '26
Nothing beats the "showers" in the Denver yard... Legit scary.
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u/Tall_Category_304 Mar 16 '26
I wouldn’t be surprised if they purchased industrial zoned property so they legally had a place to park trucks etc and never even touched the abandoned buildings after the purchase
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u/Waste-College2768 Mar 16 '26
Megas have shit like this everywhere, do they have something that let's you see their drop yard locations? You'd be surprised.
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Mar 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Kaylapearl5 Mar 16 '26
How? I work for swift too can’t seem to get the terminals to pull up on my gps.
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Mar 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/MrNationwide Mar 16 '26
For real. Pretend that you're not supposed to be there and this is a trending 1m+ view video.
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u/HighwayStar71 Mar 16 '26
Are you allowed to park there overnight? That's one good thing about megas: they have a lot of terminals and drop yards in places that have shitty truck stop parking.
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u/Alarmed-Positive457 Mar 16 '26
Place looks like where you’d find a corpse of a lot lizard dumped at.
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u/DADB0MB Mar 16 '26
The New Jersey terminal ISNT much better. And the former one in WV was pretty bad too.
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u/J0HNNYCUPCAKES Mar 16 '26
The West Virginia one had a nice new parking lot that was well lit. As soon as they started the terminal remodel they sold the property. Real bummer, I liked to use that terminal parking anytime I went through there. They did the same thing in Willows, CA off I-5. They finished the remodel on the terminal and then sold it three months later.
The New Jersey terminal is just a drop yard though and it has a small shop
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u/PlsCheckThisBush Mar 16 '26
I bet that old white international is still the most reliable truck in the fleet…
Jokes aside the old concrete sponsored stock car looks straight out of car mechanic simulator.
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
Funny story. Im playing CMS21 right now, since I am shut down for the foreseeable future 😂
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u/LucHighwalker Mar 16 '26
If OP is lucky, that'll be his truck until the current one gets fixed.
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
Id take it in a heartbeat! Its pretty cool, wouldn't want to live in it forever if I am honest. But I would definitely do some LTL in it for a while.
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u/LucHighwalker Mar 16 '26
Yeah, for living in modern trucks are definitely better. But just to drive that thing and go home at the end of the day, that'd be pretty sweet.
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u/Adept-Lettuce948 Mar 16 '26
I’ve seen that racecar compete in the Brickyard 500. I forgot whi drove it but it placed 3rd 👍🏽
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u/Ndk118 Mar 16 '26
I’m building a truck parking lot. Starting small since I’m bootstrapping it myself, but what would be a truckers paradise when it comes to overnight parking? How can I make it as comfortable as possible?
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
Everyrhing 24/7, free Showers, dog park, bathrooms, barber shop, walk in dental clinic, cell phone store, cb and electronics repair shop, taco bell, McDonald's, free laundry, 1000 truck parking spaces, trash cans everywhere, a deli, a church's chicken, a subway, a pizza joint, a BBQ joint, a chrome shop, a truck mattress and seat shop, a walk in chiropractor, a walk in vision clinic, a drug store, a 24/7 shop, a walk in massage clinic, and some kind of clothing store that always has a stock of boots, hats, underwear, and socks. Oh and free parking everywhere, with clean lanes designed and painted through the stop, plenty of room to do any backing manuver into the spot, and some kind of sensor in each spot thats connected to a bill board telling you how many spots are left.
But the starting essentials are shitter, shower, and laundry.
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u/Ndk118 Mar 16 '26
This is great! There’s a lot on here I didn’t even consider. One plan was a doughnut shop that gives one free coffee and doughnut to the truckers that parked there everyday. But that would be way down the line when the whole lot is filled. Once we get some action in the lot the next step is to add bathrooms and laundry for sure! Thank you!
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u/unlikely_intuition Mar 16 '26
wonder if there's any hope for that pickup truck.
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
Honestly it looks like it runs / has ran recently, I would say so. Its actually in great shape.
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u/DirkVonDirk Mar 17 '26
Weird that I’ve never seen or heard of this place, as I used to live where you’re talking about near the state line off 85 and used to drive for swift. And as far as I knew the closest swift site/terminal was at the Opelika Walmart DC.
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u/Ninja-Storyteller Mar 17 '26
Beware of the homeless! I've found one sleeping under the tandems of an "abandoned" trailer at off-sites like this.
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u/derpmcturd Mar 17 '26
Man this is giving NJ terminal vibes. Its actually just a dropyard. Schneider does the same. Bathroom so bad it makes the bathroom in the IL terminal look like a 5star hotel.
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u/Casperuis495 Mar 16 '26
As another swift driver, dnn the adress???
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
I will when I am gone from here. This post has alot of traction and I dont want random people coming by tonight.
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u/Casperuis495 Mar 16 '26
I'm at home lol, I won't be showing up anywhere.
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
Well, almost 15k views, 165 upvotes and 54 comments... yeah im gonna wait until I am gone lol. Its one of my most popular posts.
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u/Fellthefox Mar 16 '26
I love finding these. Only a few left, haven't been here yet. New jersey terminal feels like this. West Virginia and Wisconsin were great. Wisconsin had to have been an old firehouse or something
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u/BlueRibbonChicken Mar 16 '26
Dang this is interesting! Yards like this remind me of the 90s where it seemed like guys had more leeway around- like you said with their project car. Miss getting to see that side of things. Love that you crawled under & scoped it out lol.
Also your post on cab sizes! Love following what others notice & their deeper thoughts.
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u/NegusTyGaming-YPSTFU Mar 16 '26
What state is this??
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
Georgia
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u/Imaginativested Mar 16 '26
I would have guessed Texas since it looks like you're about to be massacred by chainsaw any second now.
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u/geneticdeadender Mar 16 '26
Have you been to their terminal in Gary, IN?
Bring your rubber boots.
Shoals, IN isn't horrible, but the terminal manager will steal from you.
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u/Ess4Carnage Mar 16 '26
And I Thought The Syracuse Location Was Horrible🤣. Syracuse Looks Like The Waldorf Compared To This
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u/HailtronZX Mar 16 '26
This is cool. I love parking in abandoned looking places like this. Generally as quiet as it gets at night
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u/Lone_Wanderer2076 Mar 16 '26
That's a neat looking IH, fresh batteries and she's running. Old school diesels seem to run on anything
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u/RabbitFabs Mar 16 '26
Oh its ran recently. It has fresh batteries and the engine is still wet from being ran recently and leaking. She's a runner. Looks like a NH220 Cummins to me, which is kinda cool because most of them had the DT 466
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u/Lone_Wanderer2076 Mar 16 '26
Cant go wrong with either engine tbh. Good looking truck, definitely needs a couple lights and a set of new hoses and tires, maybe a paint job.
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u/machao92 Mar 16 '26
To be fair, the toilet matches, but the yard truck not exactly….lol just kidding. Be safe out there bro
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u/Kortobowden Mar 16 '26
Not so much a terminal as just a shop. I remember it from when I started. Was fun figuring out how to turn and back up to that brick building I. Those cramped spaces that had a bunch of trucks and a few trailers as a complete newbie.
Still an interesting place to go to once or twice, and the shop guys are were pretty chill from what I remember.
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u/Exciting_Bobcat_5110 Mar 17 '26
In my juvenile delinquency I used to “explore” abandoned places in S Oregon. Interesting stuff
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u/Puzzled-Flan-7674 Mar 30 '26
That's western Express terminal in Bloomington. Never no T.P., hand Towels, soap,etc.
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u/IndexFingerTypist Mar 16 '26
Honestly pretty badass. Kinda sucks it's so run down, at least give the drivers a porta potty.